Gap Year
by AgentOfAngst
Summary: Lilo's 18 and studying interplanetary relationships in lieu of formal education. Her gap year just happens to take her to the site of failed invasion, in Gravity Falls, Oregon. Where she learns a lot more than she bargained for and finds a place where everyone's a little weird.
1. Welcome to Gravity Falls

**Lilo and Stitch came out in 2002, and Lilo was seven at the time (according to sequels, I believe), so what happened when Lilo grew up? Well maybe she went to pursue what else was going on with interplanetary relationships, which might have brought her to the site of a UFO crash many years before, Gravity Falls, Oregon in 2013, just a few weeks after Weirdmaggedon.**

**I don't own the characters, except for potential OCs, yada yada, enjoy!**

* * *

"I think we're gonna fit in," Lilo said, glancing around the small, weird little town. Stitch nodded.

"Yeah." Stitch lifted one of her bags. There was a ukulele on her back and a camera around her neck, essentials, but otherwise, she'd tried to pack light for her "gap year." She figured anything she needed she could pick up overpriced at a gift shop.

"Let's find that place Cobra set us up with."

"Okay, this is a shack," Lilo said with a laugh, looking at the little guest hut on the back of the Corduroy's property, past several stray axes.

"It would be great for surfboards though." She was joking, but it was great anyways. It was perfect.

"I should thank Cobra for all this..."

"And I should probably call Nani since she told me to let her know when I was in Oregon." She dropped her stuff inside the shack and flopped down on the bed, a dust cloud rising.

"Well, I should probably deal with this." A baseball bat was leaning by a broken window and she picked it up to begin to beat the dust out of the bed.

"Need any help?" A younger girl leaned in the door frame, and Stitch sniffed at her curiously.

"Lilo right? I'm Wendy. Dad told me to help you settle in. Sorry about the dust, but I hope you're finding things alright."

"It's nice to meet you, Wendy, and it looks great. I love it, dust and all. Oh, this is my dog Stitch." Stitch scrutinized the newcomer inquisitively.

"He's a handsome little guy, isn't he?" Wendy said with a grin, rubbing Stitch's head good-naturedly.

"That's my Stitch alright." Stitch grabbed the camera Lilo had just set aside and took a picture of Wendy, who laughed and posed a little.

"And very smart. Do you need any help unpacking?"

"I'll do it later. I uh... I was wondering if there was any good place to get food?" After the flight and the drive, she was a little tired and hungry.

"You can eat with us. Dinner is in 30 minutes." Lilo smiled gratefully.

"Do you need any help with dinner?"

"You can help me set the table," Wendy offered, and Lilo followed her into the main house. It was very rustic, not exactly what Lilo was used to, but something she could get behind.

"Hey, I'm going to call my sister real quick, tell her I made it here safe," Lilo told Wendy after helping with the table. She already liked the ginger girl. Wendy was certainly nicer than some gingers she'd known in her life... AKA, Myrtle Evans. Myrtle wasn't as bad as she had once been, but she certainly hasn't been as immediately welcoming as Wendy was.

"Okay, make yourself at home." Lilo dropped down on the couch and hit the number in her favorites.

"Lilo, thank goodness. I was worried something happened."

"What could happen?" Lilo laughed, "I'm fine."

"Well it wouldn't be the first time you were kidnapped by aliens," Nani pointed out.

"Oh, well. Anyways, I'm here, and the family seems nice so far, and everything's great."

"Well, stay safe, I love you. I have to go pick up your niece and nephew from school."

"Alright. I love you!" Lilo smiled, feeling a faint tug of homesickness, and went back over to Wendy.

"If you don't mind me asking, what made you decide to come here? Oregon and Hawaii aren't very similar."

"Yeah, I'm noticing that. It's a lot colder here. To tell you the truth, I've heard that this place is a little strange. I've come to research some things." Wendy glanced around and leaned in close.

"Later tonight, there are some things I'll need to tell you about." Lilo nodded, glad she had someone who knew a few things about the town on her side. Suddenly, a large rumble of noise entered the building. It was something similar to the sound of her first alien attack. But it was actually just three red-headed boys in descending heights, the tallest of which stepping past the other two as they wrestled. Wendy glanced at her younger brothers with an eye roll.

"Kevin, Gus, get your acts together, dinner is almost ready." The oldest had stepped into the kitchen and pulled a hat up from over his eyes, looking Lilo over.

"We have a guest?" He asked.

"Yeah, this is Lilo Pelekai, she's from Hawaii and she's staying in the guest room."

"We have a guest room?" Wendy jerked her thumb back towards the backyard.

"Oh, yeah, forgot about that..."

"This is my brother Marcus, he's kind of dense."

"Oh, I'm dense, am I, Firefly?" Marcus grumbled, pulling his hat back down.

"Firefly?" Lilo asked, intrigued by the apparently insulting nickname.

"This idiot used to eat fireflies because she thought she could become a fairy."

"I was five. Forgive me for actually having an imagination, Marcus." Marcus crossed his arms and sputtered. Lilo didn't know what was going on.

"That's not fair, Wendy." She softened.

"Yeah. Sorry. Dinner's almost ready." Marcus then turned to Lilo.

"I feel kind of dumb, not knowing you were coming. I'm sure someone told me, but it's been a crazy summer. Welcome to Gravity Falls."

"Thanks, you'll have to tell me about that crazy summer sometime."

"Dinner!" Wendy screamed through the house, and soon Lilo and the Corduroy children were all seated.

"Lilo these are my younger brothers, Kevin and Gus. I am sorry in advance for anything they might do to you. Our dad will be here soon but we can start eating."

A few minutes later, Manly Dan Corduroy entered his snug cabin, glancing around and noticing the extra face.

"Glad you made it here safe, Lilo. I hope you enjoy your stay. Marcus, you're giving Lilo a tour of town tomorrow."

"I have work, dad."

"Not anymore. As your boss, I'm giving you leave for whatever our guest might need." Marcus looked like he was about to object, and then he kind of deflated in his chair.

"He doesn't have to." Lilo really, really didn't want to inconvenience her host family.

Marcus sat up and looked at her, "I don't mind showing you around, it's my pleasure. I'm just still getting used to having a guest here."

"Oh, okay. That sounds great."

"See you tomorrow then." With that, Marcus got up and disappeared into the room he shared with his brothers.

"Kevin, Gus, your sister cooked so you're cleaning up. Wendy, have you made our guest feel at home yet?" Manly Dan ordered his family like a small army.

"We were actually about to go unpack her stuff. Come on, Lilo."

When the door was shut and cardboard was shoved over the broken window Wendy turned serious.

"You're right about this town being strange. There's some weird crap you really, really need to know about." Fortunately for Lilo, weird crap was what she knew best.


	2. Girl talk

**Okay, something I glanced at on the internet said Lilo was 6 in the first movie, but I'm going to continue to take artistic liberties and say she was seven like they said she was in one of the sequels (Not Leroy and Stitch, because that was three years after Stitch! The Movie).**

* * *

_"You're right about this town being strange. There's some weird crap you really, really need to know about."_

"I'm listening, you can tell me anything." Lilo's whole life had been weird crap. She could lecture on aliens and interplanetary laws. She could explain things about the galaxy people would never expect. Abnormal was her normal. But she wasn't expecting demons.

"Just a few weeks ago, a demon from another dimension attacked our planet. Everything that's happened this summer has been a little, well, off. Some friends visiting for the summer found this weird book that detailed much of the weirdness in Gravity Falls, and we followed it to shapeshifters and unicorns and Bill."

"Bill?"

"The Demon. The one thing in Gravity Falls you absolutely cannot mess with. The world almost ended. People almost died. My family almost died... Bill is beyond powerful. We tried to destroy him, but the truth is, we don't know if we did. We don't know if he's still lurking in the shadows, waiting for someone else to puppeteer. Bill can possess you, can infiltrate your brain and trick you, can turn you into statues, and values no one outside of himself. He's the definition of evil."

"I'll stay away from him."

"Okay, well he looks like a triangle with a top hat."

"That's what's so dangerous?"

"Trust me, he's a sadist with an agenda. The only thing he wants is world domination and he'll use anyone to get it."

"You're pretty brave, Wendy, taking on a demon."

"Well, Corduroy's are tough, and I wasn't alone. I had my friends. It was surreal, fighting for the sake of the whole entire world."

"I kind of know how that feels," Lilo admitted, causing Wendy to look over in surprise.

"Are there interdimensional demons in Kauai?"

"No, but there are aliens." If Wendy was going to be so open about Gravity Falls, Lilo might as well return the favor.

"Aliens?" Wendy seemed a little bit surprised, but only a little given what she'd lived through.

"Surprisingly, Kauai is a kind of hotspot for aliens. Mainly just the experiments-"

"Experiments?" Wendy interrupted.

"I'll explain. Stitch, and 620-ish more creatures were designed by this somewhat evil genius, Jumba, who is kind of like my uncle now. At first Stitch and the other experiments were evil, but after Stitch became a part of my family, the Galactic Federation saw the experiments could be reasoned with if they only found the place they belonged. And so it became my full-time job to rehome the aliens released upon Kauai, which I've been doing since I was seven." Wendy gaped at her.

"I guess it's a little weird..." Lilo confessed.

"Weird? It's awesome! When I was seven I was still eating fireflies."

"One of the reasons I came here was because aliens visited this place once. It might be one of the reasons the town is so strange, in fact, it probably is. That, or the whole interdimensional thing. Before I met Stitch, I never thought that there might be life on other planets. And now to think that there is life in other _dimensions? _That's wild to me."

"Yeah, it's pretty weird. My friends Mabel, Ford, and Stan have all visited these alternate dimensions, as for the rest of Gravity Falls, well the dimensions kind of came to us when the apocalypse began."

"That's crazy... Thanks for telling me about that. I'll have to talk to the Galactic Federation about other dimensions. See if that's something I should look into."

"If I were you, I'd avoid other dimensions. That kind of thing is dangerous. And I'm like, the queen of doing dangerous things for fun around here, so I really mean it."

"Thanks, Wendy, but I'm going to talk to the Galactic Federation anyway, just in case. Hey, didn't you mention that there was a book about all the weird stuff in this town? Do you think I could see it?"

"Man, I'm sorry Lilo, after the apocalypse the author deemed the journal too dangerous and got rid of it. I don't know if it even exists anymore. I wish I had more for you to go into your research with..."

"Oh, it's okay. I know where to start. Maybe after the tour tomorrow..." Wendy leaned against the wooden wall, glancing at a little bit of moonlight peeking through the cardboarded up window.

"It's kind of cool to know that there's something up there. It does make me feel a little small though. You know... You feel a little inconsequential when you know you're not the only dimension, or the only planet, or even the only Wendy Corduroy." Wendy confessed.

"Even if there were a hundred million Wendy Corduroys, you'd still be perfectly unique, and uniquely important. Not many fifteen-year-olds can say they helped stop the apocalypse."

"Not many seven-year-olds can say they became ambassadors for outer space."

"It's not a competition," Lilo laughed, nudging the other girl. Wendy smiled gratefully at the encouragement.

"Thanks, Lilo. I don't usually get the chance to talk about this kind of thing. People usually expect me to be so put together, and I appreciate that you don't have those expectations."

"No problem, Wendy. You can come to me anytime." Nani had always supported her, always been there to listen, it felt good to give that to someone else.

"Thanks. You've had a long day, and you'll have a long day tomorrow if I know my brother, so I'll let you sleep."

"Good night!" Lilo lay back when Wendy left, not bothering unpacking or even changing, she was just so tired. When she'd drifted off, she heard something akin to laughter, saw glowing eyes... But surely, it was just the wind... Surely there was nothing in her head that wasn't supposed to be there...


	3. Wake up call

There was a knock at the door. Lilo had absolutely no concept of time after the time change, but it felt early, and she felt out of it. She rose from the dusty mattress with some grogginess and opened the door to see Marcus all dressed and ready to go.

"Good morning." It didn't feel very good.

"What time is it?"

"Seven. I wanted to give you time to get ready before we left. There's a shower in the house, water should still be warm my siblings aren't awake yet."

"Oh, thanks." Lilo grabbed some clothes to change into and showered, still not loving being up so early. Wendy was into the shower as soon as Lilo was out and dressed, the younger girl frantically ranting about being late for school.

Lilo caught Marcus physically dragging his little brothers out of bed and scolding that it was their own fault they didn't wake up sooner. Kevin shot back that no one could wake up as early as Marcus, while Gus proposed that Marcus was a vampire that didn't sleep. The sibling bickering just made Lilo homesick. Marcus and his brothers reminded her of Nani, and the whole thing made her miss her niece and nephew, Lokelani and Kekoa. Those two little brats... Ugh. She fiddled with the hem of her tank top and pretended that her eyes hadn't watered up a little.

"Are you ready to go? Or shoot, I should offer you breakfast... I think we have some crisped rice..."

"Thanks." Lilo had to admit that Marcus was trying really hard to be a good host. It was sweet. They ate bowls of cereal together, the house nearly collapsing in the rush to get everyone to school.

"Wendy thought she could sleep in because I was home. It's usually her job to yell at Thing 1 and Thing 2 to get ready for school, but she overslept," Marcus explained, a cereal bit stuck in his stubbly mustache. Without thinking, Lilo reached over and wiped it away.

"My sister used to have to scream at me to get me into the school bus," Lilo recalled, not noticing Marcus's blush as she finished breakfast.

"I think you're really going to like Gravity Falls." Marcus blurted, looking Lilo over.

"I mean, it's not Hawaii, but it's nice here..."

"I'm sure I will like it here. I'm excited to see it."

"Well, then, let's go. The whole world is waiting." Marcus stood, knocking his chair over.

"Whoops..." Lilo laughed and stood too, putting her bowl and his in the sink and running some water in them.

"I'll wash those when we get back, I heard the world was waiting." Marcus laughed as well and beckoned her to follow him out into Gravity Falls. He was wearing a black army jacket and a red flannel shirt, with jeans and combat boots and his signature beanie to complete the look. Lilo wore sneakers, jeans, and a tank top with an obscure band on it, and Stitch following along. They started along the path through the woods, headed into town.

"It really is beautiful here..." Lilo commented, glancing around at the thick forest. She was once again reminded of home, and she shivered a little, from cold or melancholy.

"We've lived here my whole life," Marcus commented, pushing his hair up to get a better look at her.

"That's how Kauai is for me. But we traveled a lot. Visited the states."

"I've never traveled out of Oregon," Marcus confessed, looking around.

"Do you want to?"

"I suppose. I love it here. I know it's my place to stay and work with dad. And it's the other three's place to go to college and maybe get out of this town."

"That's... Bleak." Lilo muttered.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bum you out. It's just how things go."

"Why didn't you go to college?"

"Why didn't you?"

"Touche."

"If you really want to know, well Wendy put it best yesterday. I'm dense. I couldn't get into the colleges I applied to. I tested too low and they didn't want me. But I have a job, and I'm happy here. Maybe one day I'll make enough money to do something else, but until then, I'm happy here hauling wood."

"Say you make that money, say you make a million dollars hauling wood, what do you do then? Where do you go?"

"That's a lot to think about at 8 in the morning."

"Hey, I wasn't the one who came knocking at seven."

"What was the word? Toupee?"

"Touche."

"First thing I do with a million dollars is let the government tax away half of it. Then I make sure my brothers and sister are set for college. Then..."

"Then?" She saw Marcus pull his hat off, the first time she'd seen him without a hat. He ran his hands through his shaggy red hair, and she saw the look of despair and concentration in his eyes as he pushed his hair away and thought.

"I didn't mean to upset you, you don't have to answer if you don't want..."

"What would you do, if you could do anything?" He asked, still mulling over her question.

"I'd do what I'm doing right now, I'd travel and research and photograph the unusual. Except I'd make time for lots of breaks so that I could go home and be with my family." He nodded.

"That's a good plan."

"So, what about you? If you want to answer."

"I like painting." Marcus finally said, putting his hat back on.

"Painting and sketching and no one really knows that. Except you, now." He looked nervous like he was waiting for the backfire.

"Hey, I like art too. And with a place like this, how could you not be inspired to draw?" Lilo offered him a smile, looking around. He broke out into a grin.

"Yeah... It's perfect here. Here, I'll show you my favorite place to draw. Dad doesn't know that I'm an artist, neither do my siblings. But when I get a chance, I come here." He leads her off the path to the town and into a little area shaded by trees. The sun peeps down through a few branches but isn't enough to warm the shady area. There are a few flowers sprinkled around, but the part that draws Marcus is the fact that it's private and safe. He looked around, then looked at her looking around, seeing her shoulders shiver as she took in his oasis.

"Hey, take my jacket. It's chilly in September." He shrugged off his jacket and watched her slip it over her shivering arms. The black jacket contrasted with her colorful band top and he saved that image in his mind, so he could draw it for her later.

"Some time, we've got to come back here and draw." He decided.

"But right now, there's still so much more to see." He held out his hand for her and led her back to the path.

"The world is waiting..." Lilo joked.

* * *

**The rest of the tour will continue next chapter! Hope you like my characterization of Marcus!**


	4. Dangerous?

"The woods around here are, well, crazy. I'd love to just show you the beautiful... But weird stuff happens here, and it's not always safe. I can't really explain it, I mean, I wish I knew all of it, but I feel like I don't know the half of it. Like there's stuff I feel like I'm supposed to know, confirmations to these eery feelings, but they're just not there, you know? Like a math problem that you know, you learned how to do, but the information has just vanished away," Marcus explained as they walked through the woods. Lilo nodded, making a mental note.

"But do you remember what happened a few weeks ago?" She asked.

"Weirdmaggedon? Of course. We're just not supposed to talk about it."

"Wendy told me about it."

"Wendy doesn't follow the rules." He said, sounding a little disgruntled about that.

"So where are we going first?"

"I can't show you every twist and turn of the woods today, but I can show you the town."

"Sounds great."

"You'll want to know some of the people in town, too. If you're really researching the weird, then there are definitely people who can fill you in better than I can. Wendy knows a lot about it, and her old co-worker at the Mystery Shack, Soos Ramirez."

"What's the Mystery Shack?"

"It's this tourist trap, everything there is fake, but everyone who works there knows about the real stuff waiting in the woods. Soos could really fill you in more."

"I look forward to it."

"Then that's where we'll go first." They cut through another trail in the woods and arrived at the Mystery Shack."

"Can we look at the exhibits first?"

"Yeah, sure..." Her enthusiasm was impossible to say no to. He smiled and followed her in. There were no tours running right now because there weren't any tourists right now. Marcus had seen it all before, but it was new for Lilo, so he watched her take it in. By now, her features were etched into his memory. His visual memory was detailed, but facts and information escaped him. If everything was a painting, he would have gone to college.

After she'd explored the tacky assortment of gimmicks, he led her into the tackier gift shop, where Soos attended the counter.

"Hey dude, girl dude." Soos nodded at them.

"Soos, this is Lilo Pelekai, she's from Hawaii and she's here staying with us so she can study the paranormal."

"Cool, cool. Is your dog an alien?" Lilo glanced at Stitch, who was trying on one of those hats that Wendy had, with the pine tree on it.

"Uh, actually, yes," Lilo admitted, Marcus, gaping at her.

"That's awesome," Soos said with a knowing nod.

"You didn't tell me Stitch was an alien."

"To be fair, you didn't ask."

"Yeah, that's fair. Anyway, Soos, I was telling Lilo that you could tell her about all the weird stuff that happened around here since you and Wendy were at the heart of it."

"Hey, speak of the devil!" Soos said, pointing out the window.

"Huh?"

"There's Wendy and Tambry." Marcus's face turned bright, angry red and he stormed out of the gift shop, Lilo trailing behind.

"WENDY CORDUROY, YOU'RE GROUNDED!" He screamed, arms crossed.

"You're not dad," Wendy pointed out, remaining chill.

"You better believe I'm telling him. Go back to school. Go make the most of the chances you have, and stop breaking the rules. If I find out that you haven't returned, you're going to get it." Marcus seemed to cross his arms even tighter. Wendy glanced between Marcus to Lilo.

"Oh, I'm going to get it, huh?" And walked off, leaving Marcus steaming. Lilo quickly said goodbye to Soos, saying she'd be back some other time, and followed Marcus.

"You okay? You got pretty angry."

"She infuriates me," Marcus scoffed, arms still crossed and eyebrows furrowed.

"I can't believe she thinks she can get away with this! Her education is important! And she throws it away for those _stupid _friends of hers!"

"Is that a little harsh?" Lilo asked.

"No. Wendy would never do half the crap she tries to pull if she didn't have those bad influences. They're all punks. One of them is her ex and she just forgives him for trying to mind control her into dating him. That's crazy, right? I'm not the only one who thinks that's crazy, right? And Tambry has been her friend all her life but lately, that girl has gotten so broody, and Wendy copies. Thompson's a pushover and Lee and Nate are just, well, boys. They're not good influences. I'm worried about her."

"Well, you want her to leave the nest for better things, right? She's going to have to make her own decisions eventually."

"I just don't want her to screw up her ability to make decisions later because she made the wrong one now and never gets to leave Gravity Falls."

"Marcus, do you actually like it here?"

"You can call me Marc," He said, avoiding the question.

"Marc, do you like it here? Or... Does it feel like a maze you can't escape?" He bent down and tied his combat boots.

"It's dangerous here Lilo," was his answer.

"I don't remember what happened to my mom. It's one of those things I reach for that just isn't there. Sometimes I struggle to remember her face. But I know that we lost her is because it's dangerous here. Gravity Falls is the place I've always lived. But my dad and Wendy and Kevin and Gus, they're my home. And if Gravity Falls threatens my home, then sometimes I don't like it here." Lilo listened and then nodded.

"They're your Ohana."

"Ohana?"

"Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten." Marc glanced at Lilo and smiled a small smile.

"I like that." He wasn't as angry anymore.

"Listen... You're going to spend a lot of time wandering Gravity Falls, and you and Stitch can probably handle yourselves, but my dad will let me off work, and... It would make me feel better if you were with someone who knew the area," He offered, his face reddening.

"I wouldn't mind some help, researching the unusual. But, as you said, there will be danger." Marc laughed sadly.

"I'm a Corduroy. We are, unfortunately, bred for danger."

"So, I guess you could show me the rest of the town any time then... What would you like to do now?" Maybe tomorrow she could dive into her research. Today, she would like to just get used to this town and this ohana.

"How about we get pancakes?"

* * *

**Yeah, yeah, tour (ish) to be continued next chapter. This is taking longer than I expected it to. Some more familiar faces coming soon! Please review it is my livelihood.**


	5. Pancakes and decisions

Marcus greeted a couple of people as they entered Greasy's Diner, introducing Lilo as they went.

"Lilo, this is Mayor Tyler, Lazy Susan, and oh, that's Pacifica Northwest. She used to be the richest girl in Gravity Falls, and now she's a waitress."

"Don't look so smug about that, Corduroy."

"I'm sorry that your family is a bunch of liars, hellbent on tormenting my family."

"Well not anymore."

"I'm Lilo, it's nice to meet you," Lilo said to the younger girl, getting a Myrtle vibe from her, or maybe a redeemed Myrtle vibe?

"You're not from around here, are you?" Pacifica asked, wiping syrup off the counter.

"No, I'm from Hawaii."

"Oh, I love Hawaii, which island?"

"Kauai."

"I haven't been to that one yet, I'm sure it's beautiful though. And the culture is so... Unique."

"Yes, it is," Lilo didn't know if Pacifica was being condescending or not, but she went along with it.

"So, what brings you here? Other than pancakes."

"Well," Lilo began, "I'm taking a gap year. Doing research."

"Yeah, but why here?"

"Because I've heard Gravity Falls is special."

"No, Gravity Falls is weird. You should have stayed in Kauai."

"Pacifica! Don't be a jerk." Marcus scolded.

"I'm not trying to be mean, Corduroy. I'm trying to give some helpful advice. Gravity Falls chews people up and spits them out."

"I really appreciate the warning, but it wouldn't be the first time I've dealt with weird and dangerous." Pacifica shrugged.

"Your pancakes will be ready in a few minutes."

"Thanks, Pacifica. And if you want, I could tell you about Kauai some time."

"That would be cool." Marcus stared at Lilo as they sat down at a table.

"I don't believe you..."

"What?"

"You've already begun to befriend one of the most unlikable people in town. I'm almost afraid to see how you'd interact with Lil' Gideon."

"Lil' Gideon?"

"Think 9-year-old psychic psychopath."

"Psychic, huh? Well, then I'll have to talk to him."

"Pretty sure he's a fake, but who knows."

"I'll have to talk to a lot of people in this town... I could probably fill up an encyclopedia with the wealth of knowledge in these people's brains."

"Eh... Maybe not. More people then you'd think don't really know what goes on around them. People write off the weird. Most people, anyway. They half believe but think to themselves, that couldn't happen here."

"A lot of people in Kauai were that way about aliens. But as more and more of them took up residence there, it started to be accepted."

"People still don't accept what's happened here. It's still kept hush hush. Mayor Tyler says it's better that way, but I don't know. People don't deserve to walk into dangers just because they weren't warned about them."

"Maybe researching this town and making that research public will help with that. The Galactic Federation will probably want me to keep what I find out about aliens a secret, but I might be able to help make Gravity Falls safer."

"I look forward to trying with you," Marcus said, mock saluting her. He didn't say that he doubted he could make a difference, just because he had always doubted that.

"I think I have an important job for you," Lilo said, noticing him sketching Stitch on a napkin.

"Yeah?"

"I think I might need someone to sketch out what we find."

"But you have a camera," he pointed out, a little shy, a little embarrassed.

"Yeah, but a camera can only do so much. Can you be the official illustrator of the Gravity Falls Project?" He pretended to think about it, and then nodded.

"Good. We start tomorrow."

"Bright and early?" Marcus asked.

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really, no. If you want warm showers in the morning."

"Ah, fine..."

"Hey, we should really get back. I have to call my dad about Wendy, and something tells me you still haven't unpacked." Lilo agreed, and they headed back into the woods.

Marcus didn't really want to talk to his dad about taking off of work over the phone, so he waited until after dinner to bring that up, pulling his dad aside outside as Manly Dan chopped firewood, as a hobby, not because they needed it.

"Hey, dad."

"Yes, Marcus?"

"Do you need any help?"

"Not right now. Did you need something?"

"You told me yesterday that you wanted me to help Lilo out with whatever she needs."

"Yes..." Dan frowned now, looking at his son.

"Well, we talked today, and since Gravity Falls isn't exactly safe, we thought it might be good if I accompanied her for her research."

"I wanted to talk to you about that. Wendy told me when I grounded her that you seem to have taken an interest in our guest."

"She's my friend, so, yeah, I guess I have?"

"I shouldn't have to say this, Marcus, but you shouldn't date Lilo."

"What? Who said anything about dating?" Marcus was blushing.

"Wendy told me you gave Lilo your jacket today, and that you two seemed close."

"First of all, that decision should be left up to Lilo shouldn't it? And second, no one said anything about dating! We're friends and I'd like to make sure that nothing happens to her. I gave her my jacket because it's cold."

"I'm not going to tell you what to do, because you're an adult and you need to make your own decisions. Just don't disappoint me." Marcus stood there, stunned.

"How am I supposed to make decisions like an adult if I'm living under the threat of your disappointment all the time? I'm sorry I'm not smart enough for you, I'm sorry I'm not Wendy or Kevin or Gus. You get to decide whether or not you're disappointed in me, not me. Because you're an adult, and you need to make your own decisions." And then Marcus walked away.

He'd lived his whole life wondering if his dad was proud of him. Clearly, though, he wasn't. Marcus walked into his room, faceplanted on his bed, and knocked his sketchbook off the bed. And then, the lightbulb in his bed flickered on. He couldn't expect his dad to be proud of him if no one knew who he was. The Gravity Falls Project might be the first step in fixing that. He'd show his family exactly the value he had. Exactly who he was.

* * *

**I didn't mean to kinda make Manly Dan a jerk... I don't think he fully is, I just think he expects a lot from his son, and it's rough on Marcus. I'm really loving this story, even though it hasn't gotten a lot of attention, so I can see it going for awhile.**


	6. Spaceships

"There's a giant UFO under the town?" Marcus asked as they climbed the hill.

"Yeah, and you're standing on it."

"You know what, that makes sense. People should have put this together by now."

"Well, given how easily this trap door opens, it seems someone did, pretty recently."

"This is so surreal. Is this the kind of thing you see all the time?"

"Well, I've dealt with a lot of spaceships, but not abandoned ones stripped for parts," Lilo said as they climbed inside. She saw the language written on the walls and nodded.

"Marc, can you copy down these inscriptions? There isn't much when it comes to technology here, but those inscriptions, if I can decipher them, then maybe I'll be able to figure out this particular alien race, see what they had to do with Gravity Falls." Marc nodded and opened his sketchbook to a clean page, starting right away.

"I'm going to call the Grand Councilwoman, see if she can get me resources for decoding this language. I'll be back."

"Okay, I'll work on this." Lilo stepped away and made a call on her comm. watch.

"Agent Pelekai," The Grand Councilwoman began.

"Please call me Lilo."

"Very well, Lilo, what is the nature of this call?"

"I need to translate an alien language, do you have any resources that I could use?" Lilo held up the image of the Councilwoman to the writing on the walls.

"Oh dear... This is an ancient language. We can't translate it directly into English, but we can send you the lexicons for a language it is translated into and that language translated into English."

"Okay, I can work with that."

"And Lilo, I needn't tell you that you are required to keep your research under the radar." Of course, she'd already broken that rule. She looked at Marc, saw how much he wanted his family to be safe. If sharing her research on the town helped make it safer for the people who lived here, she would share it.

"Okay, no problem," She told the Grand Councilwoman, however, this wouldn't be the first time she defied authority to keep someone she cared about safe. And it wouldn't be the last. She walked over to Marcus.

"How'd your call go?"

"It went alright, I'll have the translation resources in a little while. Thanks for copying down the text." She looked down at his sketchbook to see that he'd finished copying the cryptic language a while ago and was sketching her and Stitch. She blushed.

"You're very talented," She complimented, causing him to blush hard.

"T-thanks. Should we go? This place is a little... Creepy..."

"Yeah, no problem, I might be back one day, but for now we don't have to stick around."

"You can have the sketch, I mean, I don't need to keep it..." Marc was stumbling over his words, trying hard not to come across as weird and creepy. He slipped his sketchbook under his arm and wrung his hands nervously. Lilo didn't seem to notice and brightened.

"I love it, thank you." His face was burning. He didn't know what to do with these feelings. He didn't have practice feeling things at all, really. His whole family was supposed to be level-headed and tough, but he just felt overwhelmed and out of place. He coughed and walked ahead of her, so he wouldn't be caught looking. They climbed out of the UFO together and he wracked his brain for something, anything to say.

"What are your plans for the rest of the day?" He asked, still not looking. If she noticed, she ignored it.

"I'm going to call my sister later, talk to her and to my niece and nephew."

"Oh, you're an aunt?" He asked, relaxing a little. If he kept talking, as hard as it was to generate conversation, maybe he could distract himself."

"Yep. My sister has twins- a boy and a girl. Kekoa and Lokelani. They're pretty young now, but one day, I'm going to teach them how to take care of the aliens on Kauai. I miss them," Lilo admitted.

"That must be hard," Marcus said quietly, glancing at her, seeing her sad smile.

"Yeah. They were a part of my everyday life and I never realized how much I'd miss that. How much I'd miss the ordinary, everyday stuff."

"I'm lucky to have my family around me, even when they drive me crazy. I... I can't imagine leaving them. I can't imagine going anywhere. You're brave, Lilo, leaving what you know."

"I don't know if it's brave, really... It's just, all my life things have always been changing. I was young and I lost my parents. And then aliens got introduced into my life. And then more and more aliens... I've had to adapt to something new and weird for almost as long as I've been alive. And I'm here now, and this is just a new thing to adapt to. It's just the first time I've had to adapt without my family."

"Well, you're here now, and for now, we can be your family. You can be an honorary Corduroy." Lilo laughed.

"Thanks. Welcome to my Ohana." He smiled and walked ahead of her, his face still blushing red.

Around dinner, she called her sister. She was three hours ahead of Nani and the kiddos would have just gotten off of school for the day. It was just kindergarten, but it was a big deal to them.

"Hey, Lilo, just picked Kekoa and Lokelani from school, guys, say hi to Aunt Lilo!"

"Hi, Aunt Lilo!" Lilo's heart warmed at their little voices.

"Hey, guys! How's it going?" Lokelani, a few minutes older, spoke first.

"I painted a picture of you in class today!"

"I can't wait to see it! What about you Kekoa, how are you doing?"

"Good Aunt Lilo! I'm making friends!" Lilo smiled. Kekoa was the social one, he kind of took after his dad, who pretty much always knew how to make someone smile and lift their spirits. Kekoa and David were both persistent and positive. Lokelani was a little more reserved and creative.

"That's great kiddo!"

"How's Oregon?" Nani asked, no doubt driving home from the school.

"It's pretty cool. I've been making friends too, you know. My host family is really nice, they're helping make Oregon feel like home."

"That's good. We miss you here."

"I miss you too."

"I'm glad you have people there to help you adjust. I was a little worried."

"I get it, I was worried too. But I think things will work out here. I think I can help people here."

"I'm proud of you, Lilo."

"I love you." Lilo missed them a lot, but she was doing what she thought was right, and she wasn't going to lose her Ohana doing it.


	7. Lost in translation

Lilo hopped up and down on her bed, sticking glow in the dark stars on the ceiling when there was a knock on the door. Stitch grabbed the door while she finished with the stars. She glanced over at the door and saw Wendy, looking a little flustered.

"Hey! What's up?"

"There's a... Spaceship, waiting for you, outside."

"Oh! Great! The lexicons are here."

"The what?"

"Alien language lexicons that will help me translate something Marc and I saw on the walls of a spaceship under the town."

"There's a spaceship under the town?"

"That's almost word for word what your brother said. Yes, it's been there, probably for centuries."

"So you and Marcus went to an underground spaceship together?"

"Yeah."

"Is something going on between you two?"

"No, why?" Lilo liked Marcus, he was really nice and creative. But all she'd done was wear his jacket... Okay, she was starting to get why Wendy might think that.

"Never mind, you should probably get those lexicons. And I'd be happy to help you translate."

"I'd love that, thank you!"

"And then we could talk about stuff," Wendy said, flopping down on the bed and looking up at the glowing stars as Lilo went to go collect the lexicons.

She got jumped by Pleakley.

"Lilo! I've missed you so much! Kauai is so boring without you!"

"Kauai is boring? With all the aliens and stuff?"

"Boring!"

"And Lokelani and Kekoa?" Lilo crossed her arms, daring him to trash talk her niece and nephew.

"Okay they're not boring they're really great I just missed you and I was being dramatic."

"I know Pleakley, I missed you too." She hugged back.

"So you have the lexicons?"

"Yep! And, I have presents for you!" There was a picture tucked into one of the lexicons, and a stuffed animal on top. It was little and homemade, a little felt mouse that Kekoa had made a year ago. Tears sprung to her eyes.

"This is so nice... Tell them thank you and give them real big hugs." She smiled and hugged Pleakley tight before taking the lexicons and the memories and going back into the shack. She stuck the gifts in her suitcase for safe keeping and then spread the lexicons out on a desk that was actually two boards nailed to two stumps. It was a pretty good desk, all things together, the only thing was that there were no chairs in this room, so you had to pull the bed up to the desk or the desk up to the bed. And it was easier to move the bed. So Wendy helped Lilo shove the bed over to the desk and they began.

"There isn't much here, we didn't find a lot, but there should be something useful... You translate what's there into the other language, and then I'll translate what you do into English. I don't know if I'll understand it right away, but I think it will be a good start. Thanks for helping, Wendy."

"Sure, sure, it beats actually learning Spanish for school."

"You should probably also do that. School is important."

"Ugh, you sound just like my brother. Neither of you is going to college, I don't really want to hear school is important from you two."

"Hey, it's because your brother didn't go to college that he values education so much. He wants you and your little brothers to have the best opportunities out there."

"Oh, wow, you really like him..."

"What?"

"You don't have to deny it, I don't really care. If it makes you both happy, whatever."

"Listen, nothing has happened between me and Marc."

"Except that he gave you his jacket and asked you to call him Marc, and gave up wood hauling to go adventuring with you. Maybe the signs aren't completely what you're used to, but I know Marcus, and I think that he's smitten with you." Lilo blushed behind her hair and watched Wendy translate.

"I'm going to have to hear that from him..."

"I get that too. My dad's not going to like Marc liking you, but I don't care. I shouldn't have told him, I'm sorry. But everything is up to you. Just, that's my brother, and if you hurt him, we can't be friends anymore."

"You're not going to hurt me if I hurt your brother?" Lilo asked, shocked.

"If your hurt Marcus, all of Gravity Falls will hurt you, not just me."

"So the town really cares about you guys, huh?"

"Not us, Lilo, him. He doesn't party or go out and do fun stuff, he's just there and he's nice and he talks to people just long enough to see how their day is going and everyone likes him, and I've always hated him for that, because I care too much what people think about me to do that," Wendy confessed.

"You don't have to be Marcus, though. You're awesome in your own way." Lilo had gotten pretty good at motivational speeches since she'd been living with the Corduroys.

"Thanks, Lilo. Anyway, I'm done translating Alien, so I really should go translate some Spanish. For my future."

"You can talk to me any time, Wendy, I'd be happy to help with homework too."

"I'll remember that." Lilo got down to business as soon as Wendy left, going back and forth in the lexicons.

Soon she discovered that the little bit of alien writing they had found was a guide to the different levels in the spaceship. Level one, probability drive engine. Level two, probeatorium. Well, that was not safe for work. Level three, Blerg Bloth and Beyond, Used Thatens half price. Was that supposed to be Thetans? Because Thatens or Thetans were two very different things.

"That's enough alien for today. I need a break." She scootched the bed back to the wall and then walked out the door, bumping into Marcus.

"Hey! I was just about to see if you wanted to do something for dinner?" His face was as red as hers, okay, maybe a little more, and he looked a little more spiffed up than usual. Lilo thought about what Wendy had said and she smiled.

"Yeah, that sounds fun, let's go." She grabbed his jacket and slipped it on, and they walked across the lawn, side by side.

* * *

**I found this tumblr blog called whyyouackinsocraycraygf that had the actual translation of the alien language, so I used that. It was very helpful!**


	8. Take my hand

Marcus was very quiet. Like he didn't know what to say. Like his brain was rebooting and was searching for the files that contained scripted but genuine small talk. And those files were now corrupted. So Lilo was the first one to engage in conversation.

"So, did you go into work today?"

"Yeah, whenever you don't need me in the field I will be in the forest," he quirked a dorky little smile at her, thinking he'd been a little clever with that line. She smiled back at him.

"How was that?"

"It was good. Lot of time to think." And, he'd been thinking about her, actually. Which is why he got up the nerve to ask her to dinner. Which is why he kept stealing glances. Did he like her? Yeah. She was an inspiration and a bright spot. And she was pretty. He didn't really know how to proceed, but he did know they had a while to do so. She would be here for the whole school year.

"What did you do today?" He asked her.

"Got visited by an alien friend who delivered the lexicons I used to translate the alien language we found."

"Oh, what did it say?"

"I'll show you what I wrote down tomorrow but it's kinda confusing and I've been missing my family, so I just want to forget about that right now."

"Okay, whatever you want. We can go into town, grab a bite to eat, watch a movie or whatever you want. Seriously, whatever you want."

"You've said that three times," she laughed.

"I mean it. I want this to be the best evening ever!" He wanted to help her forget her homesickness.

"I've been to Graceland, so, this might have to settle for second best."

"What's Graceland?"

"What? It's the home of Elvis." She was flabbergasted.

"I don't listen to Elvis," he admitted.

"That's exactly what I want to do tonight. I have music on my iPod, we can get food or make something for dinner, find a nice quiet spot outside somewhere, and listen to the King."

"That sounds perfect. If that's what you want to do, let's grab some burgers and go to my drawing place. And we can listen to your Elvis."

"Elvis is not my Elvis. Although I would love that. But he's dead, so..." Marc stared at her like she was insane, shook his head, laughed, and waved her onward.

"Let's go get our dinner."

After they got dinner, they went back to Marc's oasis. And then they stepped into Lilo's oasis because her sanctuary wasn't a place, it was a people and a playlist. And right next to her were the people, Marc and Stitch, and here was the playlist.

They started randomly with jailhouse rock, leaning against trees and eating their burgers.

"This is kinda fun," Marcus agreed, wiping the ketchup off of his stubble.

"Right?" She smiled at him, closing her eyes and savoring the food and the music.

The next song was All Shook Up, and Lilo kind of nodded and danced along. Marc smiled at her and started to draw. He drew her dancing to the music, notes and words hanging in the air.

"This is so much better than whatever is on the radio nowadays," Marc said, shading his picture.

"You can say that again." When Stuck on you started, she sang along, laughing.

"Sing along," she encouraged, grinning at him.

"I don't know the words!" He laughed too.

"Are there, any Elvis songs you know? You can look through my iPod." She handed it over and, in exchange, she took his sketchbook. Something no one had ever dared do before. His sketchbook was sacred. And very private. But he let her further into his oasis because something about the moment felt right. She flipped through, admiring his talent, admiring pictures of plants and animals and people. He drew his family a lot, his sister and his brothers and someone she didn't recognize but guessed was his mom. She didn't ask him about it, just kept flipping. Near the end, there were a few pictures of her. She smiled and tilted the sketchbook towards him when she saw the one he just drew.

"I like your drawings," she said. He blushed hard and found a song he knew the words to.

"I found one, it's kind of cheesy..." He said.

"If it's the King, I'm going to like it."

"Okay..." His face further reddened, and she leaned back, eyes closed, waiting for the music.

"Wise men say only fools rush in... But I can't help falling in love with you." Her eyes snapped open and she joined in.

"Shall I stay? Would it be a sin, If I can't help falling in love with you?"

"Like a river flows, surely to the sea, Darling so it goes, some things are meant to be, take my hand, take my whole life too, for I can't help falling in love with you." They harmonized now, not quite meeting each other's eyes, not quite admitting what was actually going on. The next song started- Blue suede shoes- and Marc and Lilo finally looked at each other, both faces beet red.

"So where'd you learn that song?" Lilo asked, her eyes falling to her lap.

"My mom loved that song," Marcus said quietly.

"I saw your pictures of her... She looked really nice."

"She was... You know I can't draw her from memory anymore? I used to be able to. Now I have to draw her from the pictures my dad keeps. I miss her..." She took his hand.

"I lost my mom too. Both my parents actually, in a car wreck. I have this picture that I keep with me, of the whole family. I don't really remember what they looked like outside of that picture, or who they were. I've lived more of my life without them than with them." He squeezed her hand, and they just sat there for a while and reflected, hand in hand.


	9. Distraction

**Just rewatched the series and pulling out my copy of the journal to figure out some fun oddities to throw Lilo's way. Because I don't want to deal with the alien writing right now and get into hints of a multiverse? I'd just rather write a couple more fun chapters, like this fanfiction's The Golf War nestled snugly before a lore-bomb like Sock Opera. **

**Anyway, drop a review if you like this fanfic. I just want one, I'm sure you guys understand that feeling.**

* * *

Lilo couldn't sleep that night. Her mind was a swirl of thoughts and emotions. There was homesickness, heartache, and confusion. Her mind was running at a thousand miles per hour. One second she was thinking about Marc and the feelings he drew out of her, the next second she was wondering about what the alien scrawl had meant, and then she was thinking about Kauai and what she missed the most about her island.

Her mind was so full she had to get up and walk. She grabbed her camera and beckoned a tired Stitch to follow her. But he was sleepy, so she went out alone.

It wasn't her best decision, nor her worst. Oregon was a lot different than Hawaii. Of course Kauai was overrun with aliens, but otherwise, it was a lot safer. Nani had let her wander the island on her own and swim in the ocean by herself when she was just a little kid. Now she was an adult, wandering around Oregon. She would have felt better with Stitch with her, but the solitude would give her some much needed time to think. Plus she had pepper spray, so she should be fine, right? She hadn't needed it on Kauai, but her family wasn't going to let her come to the states alone without it. Kobra had offered to show her how to operate a gun and sign up for a concealed carry license, but she'd stuck with the pepper spray.

Was that a mistake? Perhaps... But the night beckoned, and she felt ready to take on anything. Anything, except her emotions. Maybe the night air would do her good, and the shadows could be welcoming, instead of daunting.

She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets, well Marc's jacket pockets. She hadn't wanted to wear it, hadn't wanted to think about him at all, but it was chilly and mosquito-y and the jacket wasn't optional. So she shoved her hands in the pocket, jangled around the keychain with pepper spray, and tried to decide if it was all worth it. These feelings of confusion and inadequacy. The way goosebumps sprung up on her arm even though she was cloaked in his oversized jacket. It wasn't fair.

She wanted to call Nani, ask her for sisterly advice, but it would be 10 there since it was midnight here, and Nani would already be asleep, exhausted from her job, her kids, and her husband. Plus it would be weird. Lilo had gone to Nani for a lot of advice, but never romantic. She'd never felt this confused about anyone before, and maybe confusion was love. The way she'd seen it in David and Nani, patience and comfort was love. The word longsuffering popped into her mind. She slapped at a mosquito and tried to distract herself from the chaos in her head. She hadn't even brought her phone, so best not to think about it.

Best to focus on the chaos of nature. Best to take pictures of the chaos around her, because pictures were still. Pictures were safe. Once the chaos was captured by a picture it was contained and couldn't hurt anyone anymore. That's what pictures were for, to still the chaos, and hold on to the good. Her prized possessions were mostly photographs, and mostly photographs of the people she cared about. The people and aliens she cared about.

She took a picture of a tree, with flash on, scaring a few of the animals, squirrels, bunnies, a little tiny bearded man with a pointy hat... Well, Lilo had seen weirder things. The little bearded man hissed at her in anger and she stepped back in surprise, laughing a little and letting it take her mind off of Marcus. What else was out here? Marcus had said this place was dangerous, Wendy and several others had warned of the same thing. But she was willing to take her chance for a good photograph. So she pressed onwards.

At one point she saw a campfire glistening through the trees, which conjured memories of camping back in Kauai with Nani and David and Stitch. She wished Stitch had joined her for her adventure, but she didn't blame him for being sleepy. Her mind was just too full to consider sleeping right now. She tried not to think about the things she was trying not to think about, she tried to forge her own memories now instead of getting stuck in her Kauai memories, instead of getting stuck in the memory she'd shared with Marcus tonight. Maybe whoever was at the campfire would provide another distraction.

Or maybe the campfire would actually be a blazing campfire/spider hybrid that chased her until she finally evaded it. She was laughing as she ran, whether it was out of fear or exhilaration she didn't actually know. Adrenaline was fun like that. When she was finally free from the chase she leaned against a tree, laughing and catching her breath. This was a good distraction. She shivered, suddenly, not from the cold since running had taken care of that, she was shivering because she felt like she was being watched. She looked around, shooting with flash on to get a better light, but she couldn't see anyone. She felt like the stalker kept ducking out of sight every time she got anywhere close to him/her/it. Feeling disconcerted, she looked around one more time and realized she didn't know which direction home was anymore. She stepped forward and slipped down the side of a cliff, her ankle twisting the wrong way. Wincing and gasping in pain, she forced her way up and forward, no longer comfortable being out here alone.

She just had to find anything that looked like civilization. She just had to find anyone, or else she would be up all night wielding her only weapons, the flash of her camera and her pepper spray. After an excruciating half an hour of walking and wondering why she hadn't brought her phone, she heard a road, heard cars, and after a while longer she was able to get to the side of it, where she found a police car sitting at a speed trap, and knocked on the glass to wake the sleeping officers.

Though they initially tried to arrest her for disturbing their peace, she soon had a police escort back to the Corduroy home, where they made sure she got in okay. She had intended to just sleep on her swollen ankle until morning and deal with it then, but Sheriff Blubs blasted the siren when they pulled up, making Manly Dan charge out in anger.

"I didn't do anything wrong this time!" He yelled until he saw Lilo and gathered that she was the cause of the police visit.

"What happened?"

"I went for a walk and got spooked and twisted my ankle, I'm so sorry..."

"Let's get you inside then. You shouldn't wander around the woods alone, especially at night, alright?" He said this strictly, but fatherly. He cared about the people who lived in his house. They went inside and he sat her down at the kitchen table, getting her an icepack for her ankle and a cloth to wrap it in so it didn't freeze to her skin. Thanks to Sheriff Blubs everyone in the house was awake and had gathered in the kitchen. Wendy and Marcus both looked super concerned when they saw her, but both kept their mouths shut. Kevin and Gus couldn't seem to care less, they were just sleepy and annoyed.

"Wendy, it will be easier for Lilo if she doesn't have to commute between the house and the guest house so you're switching while she recovers."

"Sounds good."

"Everyone get back to bed, you all still have obligations in the morning." Lilo's face was red from embarrassment as the Corduroy's fussed over a little bit, insisting on moving her stuff into Wendy's room, including a still sleeping Stitch. She kept apologizing, kept avoiding eye contact with Marcus. Some distraction this was...

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**Hope you enjoyed an appearance from a Scampfire and the elusive Hide-Behind!**


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